Mery Del Socorro

Mery, 44, is a mother and the head of household since she separated from her husband. She takes care of their three children. For about six years, she managed a restaurant, but sales fell sharply, which forced her to close because she didn't have the working capital to sustain the business. She is currently employed at a business, working as a food handler. Also, to complement her income, she works by selling merchandise that she offers to family, friends, and acquaintances. This allows her to pay household expenses.

Mery's humbleness, strength, and attitude of self-improvement motivated her to request her third loan to invest in buying wholesale merchandise (perfume, clothing, accessories, body cream, and more). This will allow her to stock up on the products she needs to satisfy the growing demand during the Christmas season. As a result, this will increase her economic resources so she can continue to support her family. Mery says that her main interest is to keep her business going and make it successful to provide her with stability. Then she will be able to provide her children with a better education and her family with better conditions.

Additional Information

Important Information

This loan is structured on Kiva as a bullet loan, which means a single payment is required at the end of the loan term. By Colombian law, Kiva's partner Interactuar is required to offer borrowers loans with a variable interest rate that fluctuates with the market rate. Because fixed monthly payments are applied first to interest and then to principal, Interactuar is unable to predict upfront what portion of each repayment would go towards the loan principal. This creates a challenge with Kiva's system, which doesn't allow for unpredictable principal payments, and can result in some Interactuar clients appearing falsely delinquent. To remedy this, the loan has an end-of-term repayment plan on Kiva, but the borrower will continue scheduled monthly repayments to Interactuar, who will then pass along the principal amount to Kiva lenders. This means that you may see repayments made on this loan throughout the repayment term, as opposed to receiving repayment in full at the end of the loan term.